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Enchanted Trinkets Complete--a hardcover book containing over 500 magic items for your D&D games!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mouseferatu" data-source="post: 4181167" data-attributes="member: 1288">Let me add that there are almost certainly solid financial and business reasons for this model.(Disclaimer: I have no access to, or inside knowledge of, WotC's sales--and I wouldn't be sharing them even if I did. I do, however, have what I think is at least a somewhat solid grasp of the industry from the various companies I've worked with.)A campaign setting book, by definition, has a smaller target market than the core rules. Eberron doesn't appeal to everyone; FR doesn't appeal to everyone; etc. So to start with, a campaign setting book is targeting only a piece of the "gamer pie."(Yummy.)Every subsequent book is targeting a smaller and smaller bit of what is already a limited piece. DM's Guide to Faerun? Not going to sell to everyone who likes FR; only to those who either plan to DM, or who are such huge fans of the setting that they want every book.And the further you go, the more esoteric you get, the smaller and smaller your potential market becomes. A book on Waterdeep? Only going to appeal to a very select portion of the FR market.(I don't mean to pick on FR. The same is true of Eberron, Greyhawk, or any other setting. It's just a solid example.)Eventually, you've reached a point of diminishing returns. It's possible to make books so limited in scope that you can't recoup the cost. But the thing is, the line ceases to be viable well before you reach that extreme. Frankly, the line ceases to be viable as soon as sales on the latest FR (or whatever setting) book decline below sales on the average core/non-setting-specific book. As soon as you reach that point, it becomes more cost effective and better business to focus on the core line.I don't know if 3 is the magic number. WW's been doing well with 5. WotC seems to feel that 3 serves their purposes, though, and whether or not that's a hard limit or a soft one, the fact remains that such a line exists somewhere.</blockquote>

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